Faction-with, Faction-less
by Inryatt
Summary: A new initiate batch is arriving soon. New adventures will surely be waiting for them. That is, if they manage to put their differences behind them, and work together... Hopefully, or it would all descend into chaos. And civilization would collapse. Well, maybe not. (Different city)
1. The beginning

**Quick A/N! Entire story has been rewritten!**

 **The City, 2152**

 **-Erudite Skyscrapers**

The usual night silence was broken by shouts coming from the city center, around the Hub. The lights could be seen from afar, and it was possible to hear gun shots, followed by shouts and screams. Being on top of one of the tallest building in the city had its advantages. One, for example, was to be able to see fully what was happening. In this case, a large group of multi-colored individuals attacking one of the decaying buildings, looking for food and weapons.

Factionless. _The bane of the city,_ she thought. _It was the Dauntless's job to keep them contained, or better yet, dead._ Since the Erudite were chosen to replace Abnegation as the city leaders, the dauntless weren't as lenient with troublemakers. Plus, it was a wise choice. Abnegation had been stagnating progress since they decided helping the factionless was the main priority. _Now that they don't have our factions' help, they've been more and more insistent on their raids._ But they'll be stopped. _They always are._

Just as it started, it ended. Overwhelmed by a Dauntless patrol, the Factionless that weren't knocked out by the high-voltage, plasma-enhanced bullets, simply fled back into their zone, on the middle of the factories and some burnt buildings. The dauntless picked up the barely alive bodies, and dragged them into two blinded cars, to the candor sector, to be tried.

Mylah was standing still, on the flat roof of the building, while watching the lights of the city flicker below in the cold night, and the wind blowing her curly hair away from her face. _Beautiful, some people call it. I_ _call it annoying_. _Having straight hair is way easier. And doesn't tangle nearly as much, also. Besides..._

"You shouldn't stay so close to the edge." A voice advised behind her back, startling her "You might fall."

 _As if._

Mylah quickly turned her head around, to see Anna, one of her friends. _Who am I kidding, she's the best._ And the one with the biggest IQ in their year, just a few meters from the place where she was standing, near the exit glass door. She was hard to miss, considering that she was taller than her, even though that wasn't hard. Also, Anna's brown, slightly wavy hair, that normally was kept tied up, was flying around due to the strong air currents on the rooftop.

"Don't scare me like that Anna!" She said playfully "Besides, I can't help it, blame my Dauntless cells!"

"Yeah, yeah." Anna said, sarcastically, rolling her grey eyes (with just barely a tinge of blue) "It doesn't work that way silly, you should really brush up in science class."

Now was Mylah's turn to roll her eyes, mumbling "It's not my fault.. It IS boring, after all."

She shrugged, and both looked to the sky for a couple minutes, the silence of the night unbroken again. For a few minutes at least. When they started chatting, half an hour flew by, both so engrossed in the conversation.

"So, are you really going to change factions?" Anna questioned, out of the blue. "You'll be always welcome here, you know."

"We still have some time to think about it, but it´ll be very difficult to choose between Erudite and Dauntless..." Mylah shrugged.

150 years ago, _Or something, I'm not good at history._ ,having equal aptitudes to more than one faction was very dangerous. Divergence, they called it. Now, it's common. _And a normal part of our lives._ To accommodate this change, the faction leaders now allow visiting and spending some time with the other factions before making the final choice. Even after, it is allowed to keep in touch with the other factions, visit their zone and such. With some exceptions, of course. Abnegation cannot enter Erudite´s compound, and Dauntless members aren't allowed into Amity, with some rare exceptions. _Thankfully, or it would all descend into chaos. And civilization would collapse._

 _Maybe not._

Lost in thought, Mylah was abruptly brought back to reality by her friend's voice.

"Hey!" Anna says while waving a hand in front of her face "You zoned out for a moment."

"Hmm? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking."

"That's an Erudite trait Mylah, you know?"

"Yes, yes, thanks for reminding me" Mylah said, chuckling "Well, let's head downstairs. I want to eat something before going to sleep."

 _Also, we're late._

"Okay, let's go. But don't even think of running down the stairs! I don't care if it is your Dauntless cells of whatever, just don't do it! And it's unfair, you fly down the stairs, while us poor mortals need to walk. Not fun."

Mylah scoffed before asking:

"And you? Will you stay an Erudite?"

"Of course." Anna answered as it was the most stupid thing she had ever heard. _Probably was._ "Anyways, your mother asked me to tell you that dinner is ready. So, see you downstairs?"

"Yeah, tell her I'll be there in a minute." _Or two. Maybe not. I'm hungry._

Anna leaves, closing the door quietly, and Mylah turned back to the city below. Except for a few people shouting, the city was silent. Except for the Dauntless zone, but that was already routine. _Lucky hellions, they get to test high level explosive gadgets. All day._

Looking down one last time, Mylah turned around and walked towards the exit door. Opening the door from the outside wasn't easy, because of the security measures. Nowadays, the Dauntless were able to climb most of the city buildings, due to the need of using messengers to transport crucial information. _And it looks cool too._ That, and their new-found ability to hack into the Erudite security system.

It took Mylah less than ten minutes to get home, plus five minutes trying to open the door, or rather, trying to find the right key.

"Hey Mom!" Mylah shouted "I'm home!"

"It was about time!" she said "Anna's here to have dinner with us. Her parents are out, helping some Initiates making base serum."

"Now, sit at the table. We should talk later about your trips to the roof."

* * *

The Erudite usually don't talk much at the table, unlike Amity does, B _ut we also don't stay silent like the Stiffs._ If they're not talking about something related to science, books and technology or watching some documentary, they're talking about the politics, or simply chit-chatting, but always trying to keep the topic interesting. _At least from a scientific point of view._

"Mom, have you seen the Messengers?" Mylah asked "We saw one today, when we were coming from school. They're really cool, running and climbing the buildings as if it was a playground."

"Do you know what they're needed for, Mylah?" her father asks, and she nods "Currently, they're the only really secure way we have to transport most of the paperwork and prototypes to our laboratories without them being hijacked by factionless." _Last time it happened, It wasn't pretty._

"They're really well-trained individuals, and there's only maybe twenty of them on the entire City." Mylah mom adds "All of them are from Dauntless." _Very few for our one million has grown a lot since Abnegation was taken out of the government. A big part of the city's still empty and decaying though._

"Have you heard of the Raid, today?" Anna questioned Mylah parents'. "They attacked a shop on the middle of the central plaza. Me and Mylah saw them"

After seeing the baffled expressions of her parents, Mylah quickly added:

"From the rooftop, she meant. We weren't there, of course!"

"Hmm, I really hope not." Mylah's father says with a stern face, only to stifle a laugh after. _He's a bit of a softie on the inside._

The rest of the dinner is uneventful, aside from one or two interesting topics that Mylah's dad brings up, fresh intel from the labs he manages. Soon, both Anna and Mylah are excused from the table.

"So, do you want to watch a movie?" Anna asked Mylah, who was busy looking out of the window.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. Which one?" Mylah replied, somewhat absently minded. _I'm kinda tired though. School's tough._

As a good Erudite, Anna chose a documentary, about the story of the city. _How an internal war almost killed us all, when Dauntless attacked the Abnegation._ Of course, this was a long time ago, and now, besides the Wall, there´s a massive plasma shield around the city. _There's no record where it came from, though._ But still a good ten kilometers away from the edge of Amity farms, that can be faintly seen if you look up. It isn't more than a bluish glow on the sky, but if you approach it, you can see that it's made of thousands of plasma hexagons linked together by electricity. _It is capable of burning a man alive if he gets too close. Interesting stuff._

The movie flashes on the holographic screen, and albeit being interesting, Mylah slowly drifts to sleep, between the blue, soft pillows of the coach.

* * *

There's a faint light coming from the large window on the wall, and the sun is starting to appear on the horizon, signaling the dawn of a new day. The clock on the wall marks 5:50 A.M. and even though school only starts at 8:30, Mylah is already awake. _My internal clock is nuts. Fitting._ She's reading a book about the prototype and expensive human modifications. Not the piercing type, no. It's more like new bones and muscles, or brain cells. _And entire skeletons._

Those kind of "Mods", as the city population calls them, are currently only available to Dauntless and Erudite, and even so, only to a few lucky ( _Rich.)_ ones. Their main purpose is to avoid turning more people into factionless, because both erudite and dauntless kick their members when their body is starting to show some signs of age. _There are exceptions though._

Mylah, already tired of reading, tossed the book aside, and turned to face the window. Her parents apartment was on one of the tall Erudite skyscrapers, which were almost entirely made of glass and a white material that looked like plastic, but had a metallic texture and was very hard. _I bet it could take on a small missile and come out unscratched._

As such, she had a large view of the city, not all, because it's massive, but enough to see a bit of every sector. The factionless zone was the current object of Mylah observation. The smoke leaking from it was visible from every corner on the city, but it was darker than usual.

 _They're probably melting iron...Again._ She thought. _As if we didn't have enough, now their miners just don't stop working, day and night. I bet they're plotting something, and it's not good_.

And how right she was. At that precise moment, a factionless group of "Raiders", how the dauntless called them, armed with old metal-shooting guns was sneaking through the dark alleys of the partially destroyed Abnegation zone, that no-one repaired after the biggest Factionless attack ever, a few decades ago.

So, said Raiders were moving to one of the oldest buildings on the city: A small stone structure, resembling a fort that used to be a paintball field for the dauntless that now was abandoned, just like the area around it, covered in paint and some moss.

They entered the building, kicking down the door, and barging in. The inside was just like what you should expect of a building abandoned for decades, making it the perfect place for the Factionless to carry out with their plan.

"Clear!" One of them shouted into a worn and old- looking walkie-talkie.

Ten minutes later, there was another group of factionless arriving, this one smaller, and without any weapons, excepting for a large, all-muscle man with a few knifes tied to a black military belt, hanging from one shoulder.

"Dis place's perfect!" He shouted, with a gruff voice "Don't 'cha agree, chief?"

He turned his head to the woman next to him, her face partially covered with black paint, the right eye blank, and cobalt blue hair spiking in gravity-defying angles.

"Indeed." She agreed, nodding her head "Skor, who found this place?"

Skor, who appeared to be the one with the knives pointed to a tiny boy with no more than 16 years in front of him. He was black haired and kind of grey skinned. Probably second generation factionless. All that smoke was no good to the skin,no.

"It was this fella, the small ´un over there."

"You did us a great service kid." The woman said, gently "I'm going to reward you. I want you to be here tomorrow, at 11 P.M. I'll make sure you will get a reward."

The boy was visibly impatient, wanting his reward right there. But for now, he had to wait for the next day.

* * *

The next day, Anna and Mylah were walking down the road, towards the school where they were both in. It was a large, white building, and although being in the erudite sector, it had kids from mixed factions.

Nearing it, they saw something unusual in front of the school. There was a bulky factionless kid in front of an amity half sitting, half sprawled on the concrete, who was crying, and by the look of it, the factionless was the cause of it.

"Leave him alone, you coward!" Anna shouted at him "Didn't anyone teach you that you shouldn't pick on weaker people than you?!"

Turning her head to the side, she whispered "I could use a hand here..." before realizing that Mylah was nowhere to be seen.

 _Where are you?_ Anna thought, worriedly.

Anna saw a shadow standing ten meters away from her, before realizing it was Mylah... And that she was holding a heavy-looking stone.

"Hey!" Mylah shouted, attracting the attention of the bully that turned his head in her direction.

She threw the stone with as much strength she had ( _Not much)_ , just to have it missing its target by a couple meters, and land on the soft grass covering the ground.

Just as she saw that the stone wasn't going to hit the target by its trajectory, she readied another one, and because the bully was still dumbstruck that an Erudite tried to hit him with a stone, Mylah didn't waste any more time, and let the second, smaller stone fly out of her hand.

A loud crunch was heard by everyone watching the scene, and the bully fell back, unconscious. _He was way weaker than he looked like. Not a bright soul too, probably._

In that precise moment, a Dauntless patrol appeared.

"Who did this?" One of them asked, glancing around the place.

"I did." Mylah answered, and although she looked calm, she was pretty nervous. It wasn't her intention to hit him in the forehead, where she knew the stone would have probably caused serious damage, if she didn't have such weak arms.

"You did well,uh... Erudite girl? "The patrol said astonished, clearly "You'd be welcome to Dauntless, we need people like you, and less

Mylah just stood on her place, saying nothing. Her brain collapsed momentarily from the adrenaline surge.

"Well, what are you all looking at?" The Dauntless woman said "There´s nothing to see here, move along!"

Anna walked to Mylah, and both resumed the walking to the school doors.

"That was amazing!" Anna exclaimed "Although you could have gotten hurt, the way you stood for that kid was impressive."

"I wasn't doing it for the kid" Mylah mumbled "I just...I don't know, I didn't think. Just didn't think it was fair."

After seeing Anna´s face, she quickly added:

"The stronger taking that much of an advantage of the weak. A bit is normal, but hurting people just because, that is not okay." _This much moral thinking is annoying. I need a sleep._

The bell, with its ever-perfect timing, chose that moment to ring, signaling the start of the classes for the day.

"Will have lunch with me?" Anna asked, as she walked off to her classroom.

"Sure! See ya!"

* * *

Being an Erudite meant harder classes, and even Anna had some struggles with it. After all, classes weren't supposed to be easy, and Erudites had the highest standards of the five factions.

A sudden ringing noise, that was the bell signaling the end of the classes for the day, woke up half the class from its slumber, who, in a hurry, stuffed their books and materials on the bags, ready to dart out of the room as soon as the teacher allowed it.

"Alright class!" He said, slower than most wanted."We're done for today. Don't forget, your choosing ceremony is in one month from today." _Thanks. Totally wasn't obsessing about that for the last year._

As the teacher turned to erase the board, Mylah walked out of the classroom to find Anna.

"So?" Mylah asked excitedly "How did the test go?"

"It was awful!" Anna huffed angrily "I forgot to mention one small thing I should have, and now I'm going to fail!" _Aw, you worry too much. Don't change._

"Anna, you're not going to fail, that isn't possible." _Nature laws wouldn't permit it, probably._

"Fine, but I won't have an A++! That's disastrous!"

Mylah simply rolled her eyes, and they both headed to the school entrance, crowded with kids trying to get out of the prison that adults called "School".

Both girls were walking down the road, chatting animatedly about some new book, when suddenly a Dauntless girl bumped into Mylah.

"Watch where you´re going, girl." The black-dressed girl said, arrogance plain on her tone "I knew you erudites were supposed to wear glasses, and now I know why."

 _Ooh I know what you're thinking. Well, guess what. The lil'erudite doesn't wanna be pushed around like a plushie._

"And I thought you hellions were supposed to be able to run around the place without actually running _into_ anything." Mylah retorted, smirking.

The Dauntless turned around, astonishment plain on her face. Never before anyone defied her, let alone an Erudite. What more was going to talk back?! A Stiff, perhaps? _I'd pay to see that._

"If I were you, I'd be more careful with... Wait, do I know you?"

"Hmmm,no? If I'd ever met before such an arrogant girl, sure I'd remember her, don't you think?"

It looked like the dauntless hadn't heard anything Mylah said, or she didn't care, because she shot back another question. _Yea, ignore the questions._

"Were you the one that knocked out the factionless earlier, in front of the school? With a stone?" _Ooh, why do you think that information is going to be handed out to you for free?_

"I may or may not be that person, depends on why you're asking..." Mylah said, mock evident on her tone.

It looked like the dauntless hadn't liked the joke even one bit, because she shoved Mylah into the nearest solid object, which appeared to be a train track support, and pinned her into it.

 _Oops. This lady is crazy. Ni_ _ce hair though, pretty sunburnt blonde-ish. Spiky too. And green eyes! Where do this girl's genes come from?_

"Hey!" Anna, who stood aside watching the whole exchange, shouted "Leave her alone!"

The dauntless girl ignored her, and stared into Mylah eyes, who stared back defiantly.

"So? Was it you or not?" The girl almost shouted.

"It may or may not..." Mylah trailed off, seeing the glare that the girl sent her way. _Better not to make my life hard._ _Er._ "Fine, it was me, yes." She was painfully aware of the height difference. It was definitely not in her favor.

The dauntless smirked, and let go of Mylah.

 _Unexpected. Not bad though._

"I'm impressed with you, kid.( _We're the same age!)_ Not everyone would have had the guts to do what you did."

The girl started walking away, leaving behind Mylah confused and Anna glued to the ground.

"By the way, name's Kaith." _Not that ugly, actually._

With that, she ran into the train pole and climbed it, just as a train approached. She sprinted alongside it for some meters before jumping in. _Gracefully. Lucky._

"I hope we get the chance to meet again!" Kaith shouted, her voice echoing on the near buildings and fading into the background before the silence came back.

* * *

 **On the newly-found Factionless Base**

 **10 P.M.**

"So, how is our inventory?" The Factionless leader questioned.

"We don't have enough firearms to defend this fort properly,, Ma´am. "Skor answered "The dauntless patrol destroyed one of our bigger warehouses a week ago, and we're starting to lose some of our best Raiders. However, we have enough supplies to feed an army for years. And lots and lots of recruits."

"For now, our main priority is to clean this fort, and move all our main personnel to here. I heard that the underground floors have enough space to house at least half our population, not counting the ones that haven't joined us yet."

"Yes" Pause "I've already sent two cleaning groups to the first floor, and by the end of tomorrow I hope to have it finished, so we can start unpacking the crossbows."

"Crossbows?"The blue haired girl frowned. "Why are we using medieval weapons to protect our lives? Is there something I'm missing?" Her tone was less than friendly.

"Well, you see, not regular crossbows, of course, that would be complete suicide. But plasma-powered ones, the kind that the Erudite developed ten years ago, and were ruled out by the Abnegation" He spat the last word as if it was venom, showing a clear disdain for the faction.

Recognition flashed through the leader eyes, and she seemed content with that choice of weaponry.

The fort cleaning was going smoothly, the first floor already clear of dirt and cobwebs. And as an added bonus, they found a box full of ammunition, that was surprisingly dry, the complete opposite of the outside of the box.

On the other side of the city, a group of Raiders were charging at full force against a dauntless patrol, that almost were caught by surprise, and would have been decimated if not for a messenger, that had luckily seen the commotion from some meters above. Hadn't he warned them minutes before the attack, they'd be little more than puddles.

The dauntless were repelling the factionless using shock weapons, but as a dauntless head exploded with a bullet impact coming from the middle of the raiders, the dauntless simply went full-out, firing their lethal weapons, killing every raider that was in the sights. That strategy was only used if the factionless retaliated. To avoid having streets covered in blood. It makes a bad contrast with the white.

Unfortunately, it was occurring more and more often, to the amusement of the dauntless, who were glad to have permission to kill the ones that almost a decade ago activated a EMC bomb on the middle of their headquarters, that deactivated all their defense systems.

As soon as they were offline, the factionless caused a second explosion, only this time using a pure energy bomb, usually blocked by the defense system, that was way more powerful, turning in a few moments the whole dauntless HQ to a smoking crater. That´s why it was renamed of "The Crater". Severe lack of imagination here. Only the gods knew where the factionless got the bomb, and how they knew how to activate it without releasing the elevated amounts of hazardous high-level radiation that would have killed them all in weeks, months at best.

More than two hundreds of factionless were put on trial and executed, their ties with the attack denouncing them. At the time, it was a big amount of people, when the dauntless numbers didn't go above a thousand.

Luckily, the Dauntless rebuilt their base from scratch, covering the crater with titanium sheets and reinforced glass, and put the crater hole to good use, building a totally new complex from nothingness. Also, the force of the explosion caused some magma to flow up to the surface, and the Erudite made good use of that, storing it.

Out of sheer luck, most of the dauntless were out of the base at the time, as it was the biggest paintball match of the year, which almost the entire faction attended, making bets and playing in smaller games. Even though, more than five hundred Dauntless died on the attack.

Some years later, the dauntless got their revenge when they dumped tanks full of lava right on the factionless old base, effectively killing everyone inside. Of course, the cruel act was highly voted against by Abnegation, when they were still in charge of the government, but the dauntless, blind by rage followed with their plan and were helped by the erudite, who despised the factionless almost as the dauntless did... and do.

Their act had huge repercussions, and while the factionless were almost burnt into the ground (Literally. The dauntless love their flamethrowers.), the Abnegation leaders agreed that such an act couldn't be ignored, and casted a vote to punish the dauntless, taking them away from their privileged spot on the city, with the trains and such. Of course, being friends with the Erudites led the blues to stand up for them, and consequently leading to one of the biggest fights of the factions history, which only ended with the Revolution, led by the Erudites with the help of the dauntless, that kicked the Abnegation from the government, replacing them with the Erudite.

All the factions acclaimed this act, as the Abnegation kept directing necessary resources to the factionless, and the Revolution effectively ended that, leading to an era of prosperity and advancement.

Back at the Fort, a boy was making its way through the narrow corridors, to the place that the Leader told him to go.

"Hey" a voice sounded from behind him "There you are, Khris.."

"How... how do you know my name?" The boy questioned nervously.

The Leader simply chuckled, and said:

"I believe we have more important matters to attend to now, don't we?"

The boy nodded. His reward.

"Well, kid, I want you to put this on"

'This´ referred to a strange looking helmet, with some plasma rays buzzing inside glass containers.

The boy was visibly scared, but picked the helmet nonetheless and put it on. The helmet started buzzing, and the boy stood still, the only indication the helmet was messing with his brain was the short, ragged breath. Suddenly, a loud crack sounded, followed by a blue explosion. Some moments a go, where the boy head was, now just stood absolute nothing. The body fell on the floor, the helmet rolling away.

"Dammit" the Leader muttered "I knew it wasn't ready yet to use. I guess we just have to keep trying."

She withdrew back into the darkness, leaving the smoking body behind her.

 **A/N: So, here** **'** **s the first chapter. I hope y´all enjoyed to read it almost as much as I enjoyed writing it =).** **(And now rewriting!)**

 **So, the story is set on a timeline where "Divergent" events happened, but it won** **'** **t have any impact on the fanfic, as it was** **in a different city. I'm ignoring all the plot of Allegiant (the genes and stuff)**

 **Also, the science** **is way more advanced,** **and most of the devices are now plasma-powered (** **I** **imagine it as a blue substance).**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **PS. I drew most characters that appear up to this moment (Kaith, Mylah, Anna, plus Kat and Thomas that are from other chapters. :) I have a couple different designs for each and some detailed-er stuff! :D If anyone's interested, shoot me a PM and I'll look into scanning it)**


	2. Initiating the Initiation

Mylah woke up to the sound of her alarm, beeping and buzzing until she turned it off. She rose from her bed, and looked through the window.

 _Why did I set the alarm to wake me up so early?_ She thought _Even the sun_ _isn't_ _up yet!_

Suddenly, she remembered.

 _Right!_ _It's_ _the choosing ceremony!_

She got out of the bed and changed into her blue clothes. The aptitude tests were done on the previous day, and she already knew the result before they were announced. She had aptitudes both to Erudite and Dauntless, but the Dauntless were more appealing to her, and so she knew what faction she would choose.

It only took her thirty minutes to get ready to go, but waiting for her parents to wake up was the hard part. So she decided to call Anna.

"Hey, how are..." She was abruptly interrupted by Anna.

"Oh my god, I'm so nervous! What if anything goes wrong?! The Erudite bowl is right next to Abnegation! I can´t live as an Abnegation! What if... What if..."

"Wait, Anna, breathe." Mylah said, chuckling "Now, is that better?"

"Whoa, yes, thanks. You know I always get over-excited over this things. Now, look at the time! I'll meet you on the skyscraper entrance in five minutes! Bye!"

Mylah still stood a good five minutes staring at the phone, trying to process what just happened.

 **10 minutes later**

Mylah and Anna were walking down the road, talking excitedly while heading to the Central building, where the Ceremony would take place, as it did 150 years before, with only some differences. The security, for example, was improved, and the carpet near the bowls sprayed with a special substance that dissolved blood that landed on it, what usually happened when the choosers were too nervous.

"Let´s find a place." Anna suggested

The erudite places were already almost full, but they got a spot on the middle of it. Their parents would go join them in a few minutes.

"Welcome, future Initiates!" Jean Matthews, the new Erudite leader announced.

"Isn't she a descendant of Jeanine Matthews, from the old city, that we lost communications with?" Someone asked.

"Yes, she is. " Answered an erudite three rows below Anna and Mylah. "Now, pay attention."

In fact, on the small amount of time that Mylah got distracted with the side-chat, Jean had already finished her speech, and was opening the big paper roll with the names written on it. _Great._

"Jirah, Andrew!" She shouted, and a boy from Dauntless ran up to the bowls, made a small cut on his palm and let a blood drop fall into the hot coals, where it fizzled.

"Dauntless!"

They shouted and cheered, patting their new Initiate on his back.

A lot of boys and girls went back and forth, each choosing their new faction, before one of the girls was called.

"Seaborn, Anna!"

She immediately tensed up, and walked to the bowls quickly, wanting to get it done fast. Moments later, the water on the Erudite bowl turned a shade redder, and the faction applauded Anna, who walked to their previous seat, sitting as she had just finished running ten kilometers.

A couple more names passed. _They're not in alphabetical order. Wonder why I'd never noticed that before._

"Drimal, Mylah!"

Mylah got up, and walked to the bowls, calm on the outside, but panicking on the inside. Hands trembling, she picked up the sharp knife, and made a small cut on her palm. _Ow._ She jerked her hand on the direction of the coals, letting her blood fall on them.

The shouts from the Dauntless startled her, but she made her way to them, and sat on one of the black chairs. Waiting for the end of the ceremony, she scanned the room looking for Anna and her parents, but she couldn't find them. The fellow dauntless were too tall, and her, too short.

Lost in thought, it didn't seem to last long, and in what seemed like only a couple minutes, the Erudite representative was already giving her ending speech, and ending the ceremony with another round of applauses. _For the better o_ _r_ _the wor_ _se, finally._

"Initiates, follow me!" One bulky dauntless shouted. _Okay._

Then, all they started running towards the window across the exit, and Mylah followed them, years of playing in playgrounds and racing around the complexes with random kids finally being useful for something. They went to a very recent balcony through an exit door, and headed to the edge, where a small metal railing stood.

 _Why are we here?_ Mylah asked herself. _I_ _don't_ _see any stairs heading down..._

Her thought train was abruptly stopped when one dauntless vaulted over the railing, grabbed one of the black ropes that were almost hidden, and jumped into nothingness, only secure by his hands on a rope that looked pretty fragile. And if that wasn't enough, they were more than fifty stories above the ground. _Great. These people have no notion of the laws of phys_ _ics._

After the first one, soon the others followed. Mylah looked back, and there were already only ten people left. _Don't wanna be the last._ Shrugging mentally, she jumped over the railing and too sled down the rope, gripping it with all the strength she could. After the initial shock, it was pretty easy. The rope was slippery on the part sliding against the bigger rope and didn't hurt her fingers, even with the enormous friction. It didn't slip too. Even with, y'know, gravity. _It_ _is_ _probably one of the results of erudite creations, and stress-tested by the dauntless._

The ground was nearing very quickly, but as it came closer and closer, Mylah found herself stopping gradually, caused by a strange material like glue on the rope. She came to a full stop a meter and a half above the ground, let go of the rope, and landed on her feet. The Dauntless were all waiting near a train stop, but not for her, or the other initiates. They were going to catch a train. _Ooh, so dramatic._

Even though they lost some speed when nearing the stops, they still moved pretty fast, and everybody started running besides it for a few meters, before jumping in, the doors already open.

Mylah had already seen them doing it hundreds of times, so she knew how to do it. _Theoretically._ Now she just had to put it into action.

She ran along the train, and threw herself inside it. No, she didn't jump, she literally threw herself inside, as her hand missed the handle and simply flew through the doorframe, crashing against the door on the other side that luckily wasn't open. _These things are sturdy,_ _that's one solid truth._

She quickly rose to her feet, rubbing her arm where it crashed against the door at full force.

Some dauntless were snickering, but she didn´t care. At least she managed to get inside the train, a thing some new members weren't able to, and were left behind, now factionless. _Poor kids_ _. Will probably be shot down in a couple years, if current tendencies are anything to go by._

She saw a glimpse of the kinda-blonde girl, the one she had bumped against almost a month before. She was smirking at her. _Of course, she_ _'s a smirker._

 _What was her name again?_ Mylah questioned herself _Kaith, was it? Yeah, I think that was it._ _I'm so good with names though..._

"Nice way to get inside a train, genius" Kaith commented, interrupting Mylah's thoughts "Although it could be done with a little bit more grace, don't you agree?"

"Yeah, with the one so naturally present on the Amity and the Abnegation." Mylah spoke back, and added, with a hint of sarcasm "Are you sure you shouldn´t have chosen one of those two? You look like you would fit there. Abnegation is sure a strong choice."

It looked like the taller girl didn't like her comment even one bit, as she pushed Mylah against the train wall, effectively making her unable to move. _Uh oh. Me and my not smart tongue._

"Tell me, new kid, would you poke a lion leader on the middle of his lair?" She asked, glaring.

"Well, for starters, there aren't any lions anymore, and second, are you really comparing yourself to a lion? Even more, a lion leader? I think you think too much of yourself, let me tell you." _Brain, please stop talking_ _._ _N_ _ot hel_ _ping._

Mylah didn't even see it coming, as a closed fist smacked onto the side of her face, driving her head to the right with the force of the blow.

"Now, don't tell me I didn't warn you, kid." Kaith _finally_ let go of Mylah, that was caught so off guard her thoughts jumbled together any form of coherent thought turned off.

The rest of the train ride went rather peacefully after that.

… _We're the same age!_

 **Anna**

After the choosing ceremony, the erudite orderly left the room, the initiates on the middle of the large group, that stood waiting for the big elevators.

They entered them four at a time, so that the elevators weren't crammed. In Anna´s elevator, there were two more boys that were having an animated chat, and a girl that came from Dauntless. _One's clothes are a dead giveaway of faction membership. In this case, ex-faction._

"Hey, name's is Theressa" the girl introduced herself, looking eager to get to know her brown haired elevator ride colleague. "And you are..."

"Anna, my name is Anna Seaborn." Anna replied, turning her head up a bit so she could see Theressa. She was much taller than her. _Mylah would've had to jump just so she could see her glasses. Straight hair too. And freckles._ "So, you were from dauntless, right? A friend of mine transferred to there."

"Yes, I was from Dauntless. She made a good choice." Noting Anna's curiosity, as natural for the Erudite, she added some more information. "The Dauntless are pretty cool if you can go through the initiation. It is pretty rough, but nowhere as it was before the war."

Anna seemed to identify immediately what she was referring to. _I didn't know their initiation was affected, maybe to avoid the exaggerated number of factionless? I should research this once I get home._

"Well, in just a minute, and I've already learnt something new!" _This girl seems interesting, let's see what are her plans about the future!_

"So, which field do you plan on studying?"

"I´d like to try out astronomy, you know? Study the space with our telescopes, and the simulations given to us when the city was founded." Her face lit up as she talked, which made obvious the fact that she was indeed very keen on the subject.

"I'd never heard about those simulations, are they new?"

"They´ve been here for hundreds of years, but we only found them very recently. They are kinda like a map, only we can interact with it."

"Oh, so they're like new holographic simulations?" _I never kn_ _ew these were actually developed._

"Yes! And there´s just so much potential on it!"

"I know, right! We can create so many things with it, that..."

They were abruptly interrupted by a loud "Ding!" that signaled the end of the elevator ride.

"Where are we? Wasn't the elevator supposed to take us to the ground level?" Theressa asked, a bit surprised, as they were, indeed, at the big glass doors on the Erudite headquarters. The elevator was not on it's shaft, but on wheels, right next to a tunnel downwards entrance, from where it started slowly to go down, as if it was being pulled by a cable.

"Our leaders created an underground tunnel, to avoid using the buses. There've been more raids, and it´s better to just use the underground passages. They're also developing a new system, called the Metro, that´s like the trains, only they´re underground and for the Erudite and Candor. And they stop." Anna explained "It´s pretty new tech, only…"

She was abruptly interrupted (again) by a loud beep, drawing everyone´s attention to a tall Erudite, next to their leader, Jean.

"First of all, let me congratulate you for taking the first step into becoming a fully fleshed-out member," She started, scanning the new initiates with her icy eyes "Now, all of you will be taking a IQ test, and that will set your partners for the first part of the initiation. Questions?"

"Will we get cut out if our IQ doesn't reach the minimum?" A boy asked.

"No, not in this first test. You will only be cut out on the end of the initiation, and by then I'm sure everybody will meet, at least, the bare minimum requirements. Now, follow me. I'll be showing you where you'll be sleeping for the next month."

Jean, followed by the tall man, opened the big glass doors with a twirly hand motion, and waved her hand signaling the initiates to follow her.

After lots of going up and down stairs and through doorways , they reached a newer building, isolated from the rest by a big garden surrounding it.

"This is a new complex. Inside there are small apartments where you'll be living for the next month. You'll be in pairs, and you may not leave the compound on the weekdays, only at weekend. All the classes are inside, and there aren't any shops, seeing as all food and basic needs will be freely replenished, as written in the article 3B." _Section 2.2, third page._

She led them all inside, and told them to choose their pairs. Most of them were already acquainted with one another, because of the elevator-car ride. No surprises, Anna and Theresa took less than one second choosing their partners. _Duuh._

"When you're ready, choose an apartment, and keep an eye on the tablets inside. I'll give the rest of the instructions through it."

All the initiates took less than two seconds to assimilate their instructions, and dispersed, each pair heading to one apartment. There were 50, in total.

"Hey!" Shouted Theressa "Let´s go to number 22!"

"Why?" asked Anna

"It´s my favorite number!"

Anna rolled her eyes, and followed her new friend to the chosen apartment, that luckily was still empty. The key was on the lock, waiting to be picked up.

They entered their new "house" at the same time, looking around to see how it was.

The door leaded to a large white room, with three more doors. On the middle of it there was a big table with chairs on top of a blue carpet. One of the doors led to the two bedrooms, the other, to a study fully equipped with computers and the last one to a living room with a giant TV, a blue couch, and a kitchenette.

"Look!" Said Theressa "There are two tablets in the study, with two envelopes near them. I guess it's one for each one."

"Cool, let's see what's inside!" Anna replied, while picking up one of the envelopes. The first thing that Anna saw was a shiny, brand-new silver-colored pin, with the Erudite symbol. It was a triangle, with a small dot above it that looked to be floating. She put it aside, and took the rest of the contents out of the envelope. There was a small SD card, glued to a big letter.

"What does your paper says?" Questioned Theressa.

Anna unfolded it, and started reading it carefully, not wanting to miss anything.

"It´s a simple instruction. It's telling us to insert the SD on the tablet, and run the program inside." _Easy enough_ _, even for me._

Both girls did as they were told, and turned the tablets on. The aforementioned made a small beep, and the black screen turned blue, with the white erudite eye on the middle. It stood like that for a few seconds, before going to the main screen. They were already set up, and as soon as Anna inserted the card, it automatically brought up a loading screen, that soon gave place to another screen, launching a program.

On the screen were numerous folders, each one numbered, and one standing out from the rest, saying "OPEN THIS FIRST".

After opening it, Anna found a video recording, and ran it. Jean's face appeared on screen, and started talking.

"This first day will be free for you to get to know the complex, and the other initiates. Tomorrow, you will start the entry tests. This tablet contains everything you may want to know, like timetables, maps and tutorials on how to use the apartment electronic system."

"You may only leave the complex on weekends, and never alone." A small pause "On the envelope, there is a pin. That is the ranking pin, and that specific one is from Initiation. Tomorrow, you'll also receive a chip that you must attach to the pin. That will serve as your ID, and you must always walk with it."

"Now, last thing. On the hall of the apartments, there's a control panel. Now, pause this video, and walk up to it."

Both girls did as they were told, and got out of the study.

"That was strange, don't you agree?" Theressa inquired "Did you see any panel when we entered? I didn´t..."

"Me neither." Anna said "Let's go take a better look."

When they reached the main door, in fact, there was a small thing on the wall. _Very missable._

"Do they call this a control panel? It isn't more than a number pad with a screen and a button..." whispered Theressa. "Dauntless tech is way bulkier."

Anna gave a closer look at it before replying.

"There might be more to it... Let's finish watching the video."

They put the video back on play, and Jean's voice started playing again.

"Now, listen carefully. You must introduce the following digits on the panel: 2-8-5-0-0-1."

Anna did as told, and waited for further instructions.

"Now, press the red button, and insert your apartment number. Then press twice the red button."

"It´s 22, Anna." Theressa whispered. _I know._

After the two numbers were inserted, Theressa clicked twice on the button. Immediately, a small buzzing sound started on the background.

"What´s this? It sounds like a...a low plasma generator?!" She was visibly confused.

"Why would we need one? Low plasma is only used for...Holograms?" _I really need to brush up on technology_ _. No more Mylah to explain the hard stuff to me though._

As in cue, two small light globes appeared on the entrance hall, and more appeared spread through the house.

"This is awesome!" Theressa exclaimed. "For now it looks like they are only being used as light sources, but I bet that they'll have more uses later!"

"Well, I agree with you. This type of technology is too good to being only used as lights. "Anna agreed "Now, wanna go see the rest of the Initiates complex?"

"You bet I do! Let´s go!"

(LINE BREAK)

 **Mylah**

The train ride takes more half an hour, before the dauntless start looking out of the windows. Suddenly, one of them opens a door, and jumps out.

" _Wait, what?!"_ Thinks Mylah " _We're_ _at least five stories up the ground!"_

In fact, the Dauntless are jumping out to a rooftop, and there´s a pretty big gap between the train and the rooftop. Mylah heads to the door, and looks out. Suddenly, with a courage she didn´t knew she had, she gives impulse and jumps out of the moving train.

Some seconds pass before her feet touch the ground, and she loses her balance after landing, falling on her side. Mylah immediately gets up, rubbing her still sore cheek from the blow Kaith landed on her face. She didn't make a big deal out of it, but it hurt. Like, it REALLY hurt. It was as if the other girl had fists of steel, the red mark starting to become a bruise, itching as it did so. _Dammit._ _This is annoying. Just like her._

She caught Kaith smirking at her, but simply chose to ignore it. She wasn't in a mood to get another blow in the face. _Not today at least._

All the Dauntless were heading to one of the rooftop hedges, where a taller one stood, and by the looks of it, the Initiation instructor. _Hu_ _h. Nice mohawk. The black contrastes nicely with the brown skin. Oh wait it doesn't..._

"Listen up, everyone! To conclude your Initiation to the initiation..." Some boys laughed "...you must do a bravery test. That is no more and no less than jumping from this exact place to the big hole on the ground, ten meters below. Without any delays, who wants to go..."

"I'll go first!" Someone shouted, interrupting the instructor rudely. All the heads turned back to see who talked.

 _Of course, it had to be her._ Thought Mylah.The girl who shouted was, indeed, Kaith.

Everyone stepped aside to let her pass, and as she reached the elevated border and without climbing it, she looked up at the instructor.

"I already knew you would be the first," he commented "come on, go ahead."

And so she did.

With a single jump, she passed above the border, and fell into the hole.

"Whoohooooo!" her voice faded away, as the darkness engulfed her.

Seconds later, cheering was heard from below the hole.

"Well," the instructor started "who wants to go next?"

(LINE BREAK)

All the dauntless-born elbowed one another to reach the border, and one at a time they jumped into the void below.

"So Erudite kid, afraid to go?" A black haired dauntless asked mockingly behind Mylah.

"Nah, just don't wanna get into that confusion." she answered disinterestedly.

Just as Kaith did a month ago, the boy looked astonished seeing a (former) Erudite talk back with that neutrality. Even though, the boy spoke again.

"So, saw who the first jumper was?" Seeing Mylah´s face of "How did you not see it?" the boy quickly added "I was distracted with my phone. Some idiot called me right after jumping out of the train." _Can't tell if he's nice or a dick. Oh well._

"Yes, I saw the first jumper." Mylah responded "It was a girl called Kaith, do you know her?"

"Of _course_ it had to be her." Hatred was evident on his tone, as his brown eyes flashed.

The boy walked away, leaving Mylah behind with a confused expression. She just shrugged it off, and walked to the edge, where there still were a good ten people.

"Can I go next?" She asked.

The instructor nodded, and Mylah climbed the edge. It didn't look very terrifying. If Kaith had done it, she could do it too. At least she told herself she could. Without a second thought, she jumped forward, into the void. After a few seconds of falling, she felt a net hug itself around her, just to send her flying again... into the ground. _Damn momentum_ _conservation._ Luckily, she managed to land on her feet, ten feet from another grown-up who looked like another instructor.

"Welcome to Dauntless," he said, already a bit bored "So, what´s your name?"

"Mylah." She simply said.

"Okay, just lemme write this down..." He was, indeed, holding a small notebook, where he was writing down the names of the new initiates. "Wait, what happened to your face?"

 _Wait, my face? Oh, yeah, that blow_ _.._

" _I_ happened." A voice said from behind Mylah. _Oh so menacing._ She turned around, only to find Kaith standing behind her, with her characteristic smirk. _It_ _'d be a cool smirk if it didn't belong to_ her _._

"Oh, yes, you're a miracle to the world, Kaith" commented yet another voice from Mylah's right side. It was the boy Mylah had met on the rooftop. _Yeeah, support!_

"Well, well, who do we have here? " Kaith mocked "I was absolutely convinced you would change factions, y'know? Maybe go for Abnegation... I heard they're now accepting anyone. If that's true, you might have had a chance"

"You sure you're talking about me? It looked to me that you were speaking about yourself, in that "Abnegation" sentence"

"Thomas, my friend, if you don't want to end up like this girl next to me, I´d keep my mouth shut." _I_ _'m sorry?! Do I look like some weakling to you?_

"Oh, so you hit her with your "mighty" punch, was it so? In my time, we didn't try to break each other skulls only by telling the truth."

Kaith and Thomas were getting each time more and more ready to kill one another. In fact, if glares could kill, Thomas would be dead by now. However, Kaith turned her attention to Mylah, who was watching the interaction amusingly.

"So, kid, what do you think?" Kaith asked "Are..."

"This new kid has a name, you know?" Mylah interrupted, annoyed." And for your information, it´s Mylah." _Might come in handy af_ _ter… Y'know after you're begging me for an extra slice of that delicious cake I've heard Dauntless does._

"Mylah, come with me," whispered Thomas "this arrogant bitch isn't deserving of our attention." _Hey! Don_ _'t provoke her!_

Even though Thomas whispered, Kaith heard it. Mylah was starting to think it was on purpose, after all, Thomas was notoriously trying to provoke Kaith.

" _Nothing good is coming out of this..."_ She thought.

And how right she was.

With one single movement, Kaith lunged at Thomas with the closed fist already halfway to his face. Mylah almost didn't have time to step away before the two were closely trying to see who could hit the other first, Kaith blocking all of Thomas blows, and him dodging Kaith´s. _They're pretty good._

As both were Dauntless-born, the fight was pretty balanced, and a crowd was starting to form around them, as almost everyone had already jumped, only a few still missing.

Eventually, one of them would have a breach on the concentration, and it happened at the end of six minutes. _I think. No clock here._

Kaith threw a kick that Thomas failed to dodge, and she, seeing a hole on his defense, punched him right in the side of the head, sending him flying a couple half-meters sideways before hitting the ground. Indeed, as Mylah had already found, and not in the best way, Kaith punches weren't devoid of force. In fact, it was the complete opposite.

"See what happens when you meddle with the best from the Dauntless soon-to-be Initiates?" Kaith provoked "And, Mylah, I strongly advise you to don't follow his steps." _Humpf._

With that, she turned around as an Instructor (They were three.) was calling everyone with a voice amplifier.

"Well, now that we're _finally_ all down here, I want to set some things straight. First of all, you are not allowed to leave the complex, at any time unless you have specific orders. We're currently on the new part of the Crater, and this is exclusive to us. Here, you'll find everything you need for the Initiation. Speaking of what, it's divided in three parts. The first one is basic training, which aims to improve the core, that's the resistance, agility, endurance and basic combat training, armed and unarmed. It'll be ranked with a point system."

"Almost the entire training will be in what we call "Conscious simulations" where they only change what you see around you. In each exercise, you'll be awarded a different amount of points, based on performance. On the first stage, you need one thousand points for new members, and one thousand and a half for Dauntless born. You'll be trained separately in the first stage." _Dude, chill_ _and breathe. Paragraphs are good for your vocal chords._

"The second stage is more specific, and you'll be divided into two groups: Combat, Movement and Computer Ninjas. " _I like this name "_ Combat will be more suited for who wants to be part of the Council, or who aims to be a soldier, patrol or other related things. Movement focuses on parkour, and is good for who wants to be a Sky Patrol or a Messenger or any other related thing. Computer Ninjas was created as a joke, but it's pretty important now. It´s basically computer training... Dauntless style. Whoever wants to go to strategy planning, control room and hacking, it's to there that you should go."

"And finally, the third stage is a final exam, which is secret. Before it, if you don't have the points needed to pass, you'll be cut out. Keep in mind that one thousand is the bare minimum. If you want to have a chance for council, you'll need at least seven thousand. Oh, and one more thing. The scoreboard was kept, but it's just for entertainment. There's no upper or lower limit on how many members succeed the initiation."

"Now, Dauntless-born, come with me!"

Mylah and a few others were left in the room with the Instructor that was noting down their names when they arrived.

"So, my name is Thal. Your train will start tomorrow, at exactly 6:30 A.m."

Mylah smirked. That was easy. _Perks of_ _waking up early all the time._

"I´ll give you an hour to explore the complex! If there´s anyone missing when the timer goes out, they'll be lost for a few more hours. Only in the bottom of a very cold, very boring pit. Now, go!"

All of them started running in every direction, eager to see the place where they'd be spending the next two months. If they were lucky of course.

" _I can do it."_ Mylah thought _"I was born to do this!"_

 _ **A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, and**_ _ **don't**_ _ **worry, the story is barely starting!**_

 _ **If you want to tell me anything, or leave a suggestion, feel free to leave a review or send me a PM!**_

 _ **See you next chapter;**_

 _ **-Inryatt, Ninja**_ _ **on free times.**_


	3. New friends, old stories

**Erudite Initiation complex**

"Your Initiation will be separated into two phases, and then developing deeper into more specific content, like medicine and technology." Jean Matthews was saying "All of you will be expected to choose a subject and make a research about it by the end of phase two, when you'll have to present it."

 _As expected._

A bit of silence followed, with the Initiates nodding, and humming between them.

"For now, you'll be attending classes from nine to five, and after that, we expect you to study, or do something _useful_ ," the way Jean said 'Useful' left no doubt that they were going to keep their brains occupied, inside and outside of classes "but for now, you have a IQ test to start with. You'll be awarded a number of points, and based on them you'll have the minimums required to pass Initiation. Well, follow me."

Jean turned back, and walked out of the room, all of them following her into a smaller room.

"Wait here. The test starts in forty-five minutes. Please try and relax."

The moment she went out of the door, the entire room became full with whispers.

About ten minutes in, Theressa decided to try and make conversation.

"Are you feeling confident?" Theressa asked Anna, who was standing right next to her "I can see you're thinking about something, what is it?"

"Me? Oh, nothing to worry about, just about a girl that me and Mylah..." Theressa's confused face made Anna stop "...Oh, it's my friend, the one who transferred to Dauntless. Well, we found a strange girl some months ago... I think her name was Kaith..." _Why am I thinking of this we should be revising!_

"Kaith? Are you sure?" Theressa said, and Anna nodded "Well, first tell me _exactly_ what you and Mylah did when you found her."

"Well, first Mylah bumped into her..."

A snicker came from Theressa. _Looking back, that was actually funny._

"And then Kaith made a joke about our faction..."

"That´s common, from her..."

"And Mylah retorted..."

"She did WHAT?!" _It's obvious you've never met Mylah._

"She talked back" Anna said, more slowly, albeit being obvious it wasn't needed.

"Oh, no, that´s possibly the worst thing you could do. Believe me, Kaith's the last person you want pick a fight with. That girl's tongue is sharp as a blade and her fists are strong as... I don´t know..."

"Titanium?" _Why is she laughing?_

"Yeah, something like that. Well, and next? "

"Well, then Kaith started threatening Mylah, who mocked her, repeatedly until Kaith shoved her into a Train support..."

At this point, Theressa was almost bursting into laughter.

"But, nonetheless they kinda kept insulting each other, and Kaith looked ready to strike her, and then Mylah gave up, and said _something,_ and then Kaith climbed the train support, and simply went away, laughing." _Now I regret not being closer to listen._

Theressa was trying hard to stop her laughter. Luckily no one around was paying her attention, being too stressed.

"Wait, you mean your friend was just... mocking Kaith right in front of her face? Hahaha, that's just _priceless!_ " _I don't agree._

They were interrupted by the doors swinging open, followed by Jean coming out of them. _Has it already been 45 minutes? It must have been less. No way._

After being told to enter the next room, that was very large, an exam room, they all sat on the tables, where was a multiple choice IQ test resting, with a pen next to it.

"You have two hours. You may begin."

* * *

Anna put her pen down, with a satisfied sigh, and looked triumphantly at her paper. She managed to end her test twenty minutes before the supposed time, and it looked like she had been the only one to do so.

After re-reading it thrice, to see if there were any obvious mistakes, she put it down, looking around to see if anyone else had already finished. A few other initiates were already done, too, and they all seemed to be waiting for the buzzer to go off.

Anna decided to do the same, examining the room where they were at. Following the Erudite color scheme, it was almost all white, in a strange metal, cold to the touch that looked like plastic.

Startling everybody, the buzzer went off.

"Please stay on your seats, and put the test down." The erudite who had been watching over said.

After doing what they were told, two men collected all the papers, and placed them on top of a desk, where a scanner was.

"You may leave now, please head to the main hall." A robotic, female voice echoed through the room, its instructions being promptly followed. All of the Initiates left the room, whispering to each other.

"So?" Anna started "How was it?"

"I finished it right on time," answered Theressa "difficult, I guess. In Dauntless we never did exams, and things like this."

"No? That's strange, didn't you-?"

The same voice as before interrupted Anna, and promptly everyone in the room was listening carefully.

"The tests have been corrected and evaluated. Please check your Personal Tablets for the results."

A small beep sounded as "she" stopped talking, and the fifty slightly excited Initiates took their tablets out from their cases. As they turned them on, some "Yes!'" filled the air, with the occasional disappointed "Ooh."

"So," Theressa questioned excitedly "what score did you get?"

* * *

 **Mylah, the great and powerful**

Twenty-two Initiates jolted awake with a loud buzzer going off, and the lights turning on. At maximum luminosity.

"What, are we being attacked? Is it the factionless again?" A still sleepy Initiate shouted, jumping awake "Oh, right. First training day."

A few chuckles sounded, but quickly subsided, as an Instructor opened the door leading to the large dormitory...loudly.

"So, it's good to see you're all awake... that's good, last year I had to soak one sleepy-head that refused to get out of bed when he should. You have one hour to get dressed and be outside this exact door. Whoever doesn't feel like eating breakfast can stay in bed for one more hour, I don't judge."

A few snickers echoed.

"But, for the ones who actually _want_ to eat something, which I strongly advise, you better be ready when I come back."

The Instructor made a move to leave the room, but, on a second thought added "By the way, my name is Thal. Suppose you'd like to know that particular information." and slammed the door. Loudly. Again.

"Soo... what _exactly_ are we supposed to put on?" An initiate a few blocks away asked "I don't really see any- oh, there they are!"

In fact, there were a bunch of plastic transparent bags on a big pile, right on the middle of the room divided by black curtains.

Mylah grabbed one, and quickly changed into the Dauntless clothes.

"Hey, everyone! You better go outside if you want to eat _something,_ you know. Again, I don't judge the ones who don't!" Thal announced, having entered the room silently. _To vary._

 _Yeah, I think I_ do _want to eat something._

A few boys were already leaving the room, and the rest followed suit.

"Well, it _looks_ like everybody wants to eat! Good choice, 'everybody'! Come on, follow me, I don't bite! At least _yet."_

"This guy is really funny, don't you agree?" A voice whispered right next to Mylah's ear, startling her. It belonged to a not very tall ( _Still taller than me.)_ girl, with kinda short brown hair and a round-ish face. Her skin was pretty tanned, and all around, it was pretty obvious the girl spent quite a lot of time taking care of her appearance.

"Uhm... Y-Yeah, I do!" Recomposing herself, she added "Who are you exactly, for the record?"

"Oh, name's Kate. You're Mylah, right?" Eyeing Mylah's face of " _How in hell does this girl know my name_ ", she quickly added "Saw you yesterday talking with Thomas, he's a friend of mine, we met in… when was it? Fourth grade? Really nice guy. Oh, there he is, see ya!"

In fact, as Kate talked they had reached the giant, loud and crowded room they called "Eating Place", or just "Place" for short, that even at 6 A.M. was already filled with people. _Loud people._

"Well, here we are, have a seat and eat something, as we will be leaving in half an hour" Thal shouted, so they all could hear.

"Hey!" Kate shouted from a few tables away "Come sit here, with us!"

Mylah looked over to where they were seated, and saw Kate and Thomas waving at her. With a shrug, she walked up to them and sat on an empty seat.

"So," asked Thomas "how was the first night in the best faction that there ever was?"

"Well, sleep-deprived, for a start" Mylah answered, with a small chuckle. "Not very different from my old life, for now. Kinda wish there was more than thin walls separating the beds, that way maybe we didn't have to hear or monitor!" Both seemed to agree.

"You'll get used to it," Thomas said "worse than that is chatty people in the middle of the night."

"Yeah, there was this guy that just wouldn't shut up about how candor sleeping rooms were better than Dauntless. That was funny" Added Kate"He's such an idiot. I bet the candor don't have our cool tech!" _And they don't. Smiley face._

"Okay, you've made your point. Did you hear that...?" He was suddenly interrupted, looking past Kate's shoulder, in front of him, the animated look on his face being replaced by a frown.

"Thomas? What is it?" _Did he spot a spider?_

We both turned our heads around, looking for what made Thomas so angry.

 _Oh._

It was no more than Kaith, talking animatedly to a bunch of people around her. _Good for her._

Mylah scoffed, and turned around. "Hey, it's just her, no big deal."

"Oh, yes, it _is_ a big deal _..."_ Thomas looked visibly irritated. Kate wasn't far from it too.

"Why do you guys hate her? It's not like she killed your pet, is it?"

"Well, it's pretty simple, actually. Y'know, we both are _very_ competitive, and in EVERY. SINGLE. THING. we do, she beats me EVERY TIME."

"But that's not..." _Really?!_

"And rubs it in my face, every single damn time that she's better than me, when we both know that is not true." _Okay, that's kinda bitchy._

"Well, she IS better than you, Thomas, otherwise, how would you explain her scores being higher than yours?" Kate pointed out.

"Sheer luck! All the time. And, if that wasn't enough, she treats everybody else as if she was superior! You know, like if we were just bugs in her path to the success!"

"Okay, you made your point, uh, Thomas." Mylah said quietly "But lower your voice, will you? Don't want to grab a _certain_ someone attention, do we?" _I live a pretty nice life without certain crazy dauntless poking around._

After a few intakes of breath, Thomas managed to calm himself.

"Okay, that's better... And you Kate? Do you dislike her because your friend does too, or..."

"She stole my boyfriend" Kate stated bluntly, with a hint of rage to her voice "In fourth grade."

Thomas looked like he was on the verge of bursting with laughter. "Yeah, she never lived that down! Even though it's been almost six years!"

"So... you hate a girl that never did _anything_ to you just because she stole a boyfriend in fourth-freaking-year? That's... that's..." Mylah was torn between rolling her eyes until they fell from their sockets and laughing them off.

Kate looked none too pleased with this "Yeah! And what? It is a _perfectly_ valid reason to hate someone! And," she added "we all know for a fact that she's a stuck up bitch with her little fan-club with absolutely _zero_ brains-" _Hey, be careful, karma's a bit..._

"Hello, ladies! Is there _any_ chance you were talking about _moi?_ You know, if you wanted an autograph, you could have just asked, you know?" Kaith's voice coming right from behind Mylah's head startled all the three. _Of course._

"I want one!" A male voice said from the sea of heads around them.

Kaith rolled her eyes and shouted "It was a joke, you moron!" Turning her attention back to the trio, she noticed Mylah was suppressing some chuckles. "Well at least someone has a sense of humor. So, were you?

"Unless you haven't understood that _yet,_ and that makes you a bit of an idiot-" Kaith chose to ignore the insult (a rare occasion) "not everything spins around you and your band of morons you call _friends-"_ Thomas starts. _You both sound incredibly petty. Kaith's prettier though. Therefore, she has the advantage._

" _Excu-use me_ , but I find more alarming that the _second best_ initiate is filling this new kid head with your pathetic talk of-" _Oooh, sassy. I'm your age, sweetheart._

"ENOUGH!" A shout, whose voice Thomas immediately recognized as Thal's, shut up everyone near "I've had enough of your bickering, Thomas and Kaith, we're setting a new rule here. You won't talk to each other unless I say so, got it?" Before any of them had a chance to complain, Thal had already turned around "We're leaving now, before these twoblow up this place again, which would be highly unwanted, may I add."

" _Again"?!_

* * *

 **Anna and Theressa**

"Wait, wait, wait. Let me see if I got that right." Theressa said "Your IQ test result is very close to Jean's?"

A short nod was all that came from Anna as a response.

"No. Way. Is that even- wait." She squinted her eyes "An error? It shouldn't be possible. System's far too advanced for errors."

"I know. That's why you can't tell anyone. Not until I sort this out, if it really was an error or a legit score." _Our software can't be failing now._

"Well, at least you don't have too much to worry about failing the initiation."

"Did anyone get cut? I didn't pay attention to the others scores, so..." _I hope not. No need for more factionless._

Theressa shook her head, before being promptly interrupted by a sophisticated buzzer.

"All Initiates are to walk up to Classroom 34B, on the second floor. Normal classes will follow for the next month. Dismissed" A robotic voice spoke, effectively making everyone move along into their classes. School had began again, it seemed.

 _Yoohoo._


	4. BOOM-Cake!

**On a very old Dauntless training range.**

"Come on, everyone, follow me! Mind the step!" _Oop._

Despite the warning, a couple sleepy, clumsy initiates missed the step that marked the entrance to one of the giant training rooms and almost fell. Inside, there were a couple of shooting ranges and training dummies.

Thal, the instructor, motioned for them to stop, and turned around, back facing the empty grey compound.

"Okay, " he shouted ", most of the bo-oring instructors start with bo-oring exercises like running and seeing how many push-ups you can make. But, I prefer to take a different approach. Therefore, let's start out with what I like to call, BoomBooms. You'll notice that this is quite harder than it looks"

While talking, Thal walked up to a covered table, and, in a fluid motion, uncovered it.

Underneath the cloth, there laid roughly 20 old hunting rifles. _The_ _se aren't even magazine-fed! Metal bullets are soo past century._

After a couple seconds, Thal spoke again.

"We use these in training, as they're heavier than our usual guns, and makes it easier then to handle a plasma one in real combat." _Plasma_ _. NOW we're talkin'._

After a very quick, security and how-to-pick-up guide, with almost no security, Thal motioned for the initiates to pick one up.

"As for now, get used to them, and BoomBoom as much as your heart desires. Against the dummies, if you wil."

 _This should be easy._ Mylah thought.

Well, she thought wrong. As soon as she picked one up, she almost fell with the weight. Putting it up? Nearly impossible. But the worst had yet to come.

Arms already begging to stop, Mylah pulled (well, smashed is more accurate) the trigger.

And nothing happened.

 _Damn thing sure is rusty._

And she tried again. With a _very_ loud BOoOM, the riffle smashed against Mylah shoulder, the impact sending her sprawling backwards and the rifle sliding a good five meters across the floor, screeching. Only years of falling in playgrounds allowed her to keep quiet, and not curse the rifle. At least, Kaith's punche wasn't much worse.

Sitting up, shoulder burning and ears ringing, she looked around. The bullet flew nowhere near the targets, and a lot more people were sent flying from their first experiences with BoomBooms. _Name's fitting, at least._

"And this people, is why you should start with the heavy ones. Now keep training, you'll get used to it! At least, your posture is pretty good. Better than the last Initiate batch... " _I can only imagine..._

With a grunt, Mylah got up and, ignoring the blaring pain, picked up the rifle. After all, it would only get better if she worked with it, right? At least, the others weren't faring much worse than her. _Easier said than done, as always._ _Damn thing's still heavy as… Hey no swearing mentally._

After one hour of almost torture, and not even feeling her shoulder and right side of the torso, Thal collected all the rifles and stored them away. _Also known as throwing then in a chest._

"Well, ten minute break, and then, on to the boring exercises. Can't have the Council blaming me for the bunch of weaklings we got... "

The dauntless initiates all but sprawled on the floor, cursing their life. Little did they know, the dauntless-born were doing the exact same, exhausted. Only in a different room. _It_ _won't_ _be easy for anyone, titanium fists or not._

* * *

 **Anna**

Within a few seconds of opening the door, Anna almost threw herself into the bed, exhausted from the morning classes. After all, they began around 7:00 A.M. and only ended around 3:00 P.M, with a small lunch break. Plus homework, almost no time left for _sleeping_. No sleep, no brain. Anna's rules. Also very tired, Theressa did the same minutes after.

The Erudite Initiation wasn't easy at all, and it was pretty long, spanning one entire year, and it contained the subjects from what the old civilization called "High School", what was supposed to be made in three years. Well, making it in just one? Erudite aren't known for being smart for naught.

"Tired?" questioned Theressa, even knowing that the question wasn't needed.

The only answer she got was a small nod, Anna being too tired to speak. They had been reading about physics, and it was one of the subjects Anna liked the least, as it involved maths. It wasn't that she was bad at it, no, but liking it? That was another story.

After a quick nap, both girls got up (not necessarily wanted to, but.) and each with their books, did a study session that spanned the entire afternoon up until dusk. Eyes hurting, and brain almost smoking, Anna closed her book and got up. Theressa was watching a documentary, as she got tired of the books about half an hour earlier.

"So, everything going smoothly?" Anna asked, while sitting on the sofa next to Theressa. "First week went good?"

"It's much more work that what I was used to, "she replied with a laugh "in Dauntless, we didn't have exams every single week, and we actually had weekends. Without work." _I im_ _agine. Bunch of lazies. Mylah will do well there, then._

This elicited a small chuckle from Anna. "But come on, did you have the best view of the city?" _Erudite perks!_

Having had an idea, Anna rose from the sofa. "Get up, I'm going to show you why it's worth it to be inside a skyscraper. From what I've seen from this building blueprints, there should be a nice balcony a couple floors above us. We're going there, right now."

* * *

After some stair-climbing, they were finally at the panoramic balcony that had a full 360° view over the city through a glass panel. The sun had already hid below the Wall (well, what was left of it.) and the city lights were the only light source, as the sky was obscured by the smoke rising from the factionless zone. The usual. _Smart ones, polluting the environment. Bravo._

"So? Why did you bring me here? To throw me outside the window?" Theressa questioned,

a good five feet away from the glass.

"Not yet, not yet," Anna replied, chuckling and turning around to the outside" Come closer though, you probably can't see anything from there." A pause. "You're not afraid of heights, are you? That would be..."

Anna stopped talking abruptly, her gaze pointed at beyond the window, focusing on a blue glow in the middle of a completely unlit area.

 _Isn't that... Dauntless guns! It's a raider attack!_

Despite the poorly lit zone, Anna saw the contours of someone, probably a Messenger, she supposed, being hit with something and falling from atop of a building. Only it was a blue plasma shot that struck him (her?) down.

"Theressa... Do you know of any technology they might have been stolen from Dauntless?

After a couple seconds, Theressa shook her head.

"Not that I've heard of, although there might be a possibility of, during a conflict, some weapons dave been stolen. It's unlikely though. Why are you asking? "

Anna turned her head back to the window, but all indices of any confrontation were all but gone.

"Huh? Nothing, nothing, just natural Erudite curiosity, don't pay attention to it! Now, come over here and enjoy the view while we can, because I really need a night of good sleep."

* * *

 **Mylah**

All of the initiates slumped into the benches on the Place, waiting for the food, muscles aching and sore in general, exhausted from the first week. Luckily, they had a two-day break because of a 'holiday' that was essentially the council leader 30th anniversary. _That coinc_ _ides with the weekend. Good job._

Before starting to eat, Mylah looked around, and spotted Thomas familiar face. He saw her too, and made way to her, along with Danny.

Scooting over to make way for them to sit, while protecting her chocolate cake, they started talking, trying to be heard over the noise.

"SO, "she almost screamed, which was about a shout for most people" HOW ARE YOU HOLDING UP?"

Thomas made a wait motion with his hand, and, after everyone had sit and the noise lowered somewhat, he answered.

"Could be better, but no broken bones yet." Seeing Mylah's expression, he quickly added "Don't worry! Broken bones aren't much of a hassle, if you have the money."

"Or, if you are in Initiation." Danny added, "Otherwise, good luck with the pain."

"Talking about pain, I have something to tell you." Thomas started "I have a plan for our little blonde stuck-up princess." _There we_ _go again. Do we really need to provoke her because of a child's tantrum?_

"Kaith? "Asked Mylah, already knowing the answer.

"Of course. Now, I can't tell you the details, but believe me, it'll solve many of our problems. Unfortunately, I can only do it on the second part of the Initiation and it's pretty risky, but it'll be worth it, you'll see. Now, how are you holding up, Mylah? Are we, Dauntless, what you thought we were?"

Mylah waited a few seconds before answering, unsure of what to say.

"It's, definitely much more tiring than I was used to. But, for now, it isn't being _too_ hard. Difficult, yes, Impossible? No. But, is it- What the hell are you doing, Thomas? "

Mylah stopped herself half-sentence, looking at Thomas, as he was making a... Cake... catapult? With a spoon? What was going on? _Ca_ _ke wasting is an offence punishable by death in Mylah-dom just so you know._  
"Just a second..."he said through his teeth, one eye closed, aligning the makeshift catapult with… Kaith's head. " Hah! Now, ladies, appreciate the show!" He added, smirking.  
Danny was smiling too, and asked:  
"Do you want to do the honors, Mylah? "  
"N-no thanks" She stammered "I'd rather just watch." _Or better yet, get outta here. Kaith looks really tired too, I doubt she's in a good mood._ In fact, the little group that usually followed her around was missing. _She doesn't seem annoyed 'cuz of it though._

"Uhm, Thomas? She looks pretty pissed, shouldn't you do that, like, tomorrow?"

Thomas completely shrugged it off with a snort.  
Then, very slowly, as if waiting for the right moment to strike, he raised his closed fist a bit in the air, then, suddenly, brought it down, slamming his hand against the spoon handle, and sending the half-squashed cake piece flying through the air, doing a small curve, and ultimately going down, hitting something (or was it someone?) kinda-blonde. _Ya_ _y._ Mylah was mentally facepalming. A lot.  
For a moment everyone went silent, before a tall, slender figure turned around. On top of her blond hair, there were pieces of brown cake and chocolate bits that got scattered.  
However, what otherwise would be funny, was pretty scary, seeing that no-one but Thomas and Danny were laughing at Kaith, what would never be a good idea.  
Mylah was looking anywhere but at her friends. She really didn't want to get on Kaith's bad side. But, even less now. Kaith's eyes were significantly darker than usual, now almost black and her characteristic smirk was gone, replaced by a quickly shifting expression, between cold as ice, and murderous fury, scary and threatening. It was on that moment Mylah knew Kaith wasn't going to let the incident slide past. Her bad mood must've been pretty badly timed too. _Thomas's an idiot for provoking her. And surprise surprise, all the people around us have scrambled away. Great. I'm about to be caught in a firefight. Just peachy._ _  
_And she was right. In a fraction of second, Kaith sent a tray hurling towards Mylah, who had the bad luck of being in front of Thomas. She barely ducked, and the tray hit its target square in his face, its momentum throwing him into the floor behind, barely missing another table and corresponding benches.  
Still with the most furious and completely empty _at the same time_ expression Mylah had ever seen, Kaith gave a couple steps toward them and spoke.  
"Thomas Jefferson, enjoy your last moments, as I'm going to make you regret this." Albeit the obvious fury in her voice, her tone was deliberately calm and controlled, not much more than a whisper. _Daamn she scary._  
Picking up a nearby glass that was on top of a table, she prepared to send it flying towards Thomas that still hadn't gotten up.  
Mylah, in an impulse, jumped and put herself between Kaith and her (kinda?) friends. Kaith stopped her motion mid-air, barely stopping the cup from flying out of her hand. _Thankfully. Now, brain, no more jumping before thinking, okay?_  
"Please, think a bit before committing murder. I don't want to try to stop anyone." Mylah tried to put as much confidence as she could into her words. "I know he started, but-"  
"But, nothing. Now, get out of my sight before I decide you're not worth my time." Kaith hissed, still speaking on the same voice tone. "Out. Of. My. Way." The missing 'kid' didn't go unnoticed.  
Despite her fear, Mylah stood her ground, closing her hands to try to stop their trembling, and looked at Kaith in (what she hoped it looked like) a glare.  
"I seriously thought you weren't as stupid as them. It looks though, I was wrong." Kaith shook her head slightly. "Even like this, I'm giving you a second chance. Now, move."  
Kaith took a couple more steps forward, until she was almost on top of Mylah.  
Unfortunately for the latter, there was a big height difference that was pretty noticeable in the close distance. That way, Mylah was almost looking up just to see Kaith's face that was still pretty terrifying. With a gulp, she made up her mind.  
 _Oh well, he got himself into trouble, he can get out of it by himself._ _Why can't I just be stronger? I can't, I'm sorry._  
Stepping sideways, Mylah got out of Kaith's way, letting her pass, looking at the floor. Danny was trying to get Thomas back on his feet but unsuccessfully, as he had hit his head and lost consciousness for a bit. Even though, seeing Kaith approaching, she backed away quickly, melting into the crowd, all her defiance against Kaith gone with Thomas incapacitated.

"I knew you would come to your senses." She turned at the crowd surrounding her." Now, all of you, scram. This is a personal matter. "  
As Mylah went further away from the scene, she couldn't avoid hearing the sound of people fighting, and ultimately, someone crashing across the room. As far as she didn't want to admit it, it probably wasn't Kaith being thrown around.  
Even though, a small smile danced on her lips, remembering something.  
Apparently, the queen of the iron fists and silver tongue, definitely didn't enjoy having chocolate cake hurled to her face. That was something she had to write down to not forget.

* * *

 **Anna**

The first month come and gone, came what was called a "free day" where all factions except for Abnegation stopped almost all activity and simply enjoyed themselves. For the initiates, this meant that they could get out of the complex, visit their families and old friends.  
Nonetheless, Anna still wanted to study a bit before going out, only to find that neither the magnetic books would open, nor the computers turn on. It must have been deliberate to avoid the Erudites disregarding the 'holiday' and just keep working. _So unfair_ _. I wanted to get an headstart on biology assignments._  
Theressa walked up to Anna, who was in the study, and pulled her to the outside of the apartment, while chatting animatedly.  
"...so, we were on physics, and I know you hate it, but then this guy started making paper planes just to prove something to the teacher, " Theressa breathed in more air, and kept talking "and then, the teacher deducted him like 100 points! Isn't that insane? What?"  
Anna successfully caught Theressa's attentions, by continuously tugging on her shirt, because Theressa was still pulling her.  
"Oh? Sorry! "She stilled a laugh as she let go of Anna's hand "Why didn't you speak sooner?"  
"As if you would listen. "Anna said, jokingly, while walking forward." Are you coming, or what? Do you want to go to the Dauntless sector? I kinda have someone I'd like to see there. "  
" Mylah, isn't it? Let's go, I know a route that doesn't involve jumping off trains! You kinda learn something from reading the old war reports, you know?" Before even ending the sentence, Theressa had already started running, against Anna's protests, who had no other choice but to trail behind her, not quite running, as she hated doing it, but also not walking. _Come_ _on, stop running!_  
As they traversed through bridges and one or two shortcuts, they reached a very well hidden entrance to the Crater, guarded by two dauntless soldiers with blue bracers, as they were still effectively in dauntless area.  
"Aaand here we are!" Theressa spoke while slowing down, and flashing her erudite pin for the guards, who let them in with a "Have a good day, and don't bring any books in!" _Really? No books?_  
After walking through the glass door and down a couple corridors, they came across a big steel door hatch, silver with the dauntless symbol sprayed in black.  
"How exactly are we supposed to open this?" Anna inquired, while examining the door, which looked pretty solid, and definitely, closed. Apparently, Theressa had reached the same conclusion, as she said that throwing it down was out of the question.  
"So, how are we supposed to go through this? Should we knock?" Anna was still looking for a hidden switch, while talking.  
"What do we have to lose?" Theressa closed up on the door, and knocked twice. Apparently, the door was hollow inside, and the sound reverberated up the stone corridor. With a creak and the sound of an engine working, and chains being pulled, the door started opening sideways, allowing them to finally pass. Apparently the door not only blocked the way, it also preventing the sound from getting to the surface. Thus, Anna and Theressa, as soon as they walked through the door, were hit with the sound of thousands of people running, shouting, and throwing things at each other? All at the same time? "Home sweet home!" Theressa turned around to Anna. "Do you mind if I go visit my parents?" Anna shook her head, smiling. Of course she didn't mind!  
"Sure! Let's meet here later, around eleven o'clock! Now, if you were an initiate, where would you look?"  
"I'd try the initiate complex, but better ask someone, they might have moved it. Try asking the guards with blue bracers, they usually help outsiders. For now, just go down this corridor and then left. See you later!"  
Left by herself, Anna just kept walking down the corridor, the loud noise only getting louder. _At least they now_ _aren_ _'t throwing things around anymore._  
Eventually, the corridor started going downwards at a smaller angle, until becoming totally flat. At that point, Anna arrived at what she recognized as the center of the dauntless complex, a giant hexagonal room that went up until the surface, covered by a glass pane that let the sun inside. On the walls, dozens of corridors carved into the rock, some with railings, others with glass, and others with no security at all.  
Through the amazement, annoyance (because of the sound), and general "whoooa this is big" going around on her head, the first coherent thought that passed through her head was _"Th_ _ese_ _people are craazyy! Don't they know that if they fall, it's certain death?!"_

Like Theressa mentioned, there was a Dauntless with a blue bracer walking towards her, probably seeing her confused face.

"Oh hello! Need something?" The guard stopped a few meters ahead of her. "I suppose you're here visiting! Or are you on any official business?"

"Don't you ever fall?" Anna blurted, before thinking. The guard seemed amused, and chuckled before answering.

"It's not unheard of, no. But it's less dangerous than you might think. We know how to land. Anything else you wanna ask?"

Having already regained her brain functions back, she said after a couple moments, the noise being too much to form coherent thought.

"Uh, yeah. Actually, could you point me where's the Initiation complex? Or, whatever you use here?"

"Visiting old friends, are we? Well, follow me! You lucky they built a way to get there without going through the pit!" He chuckled, motioning her to follow him.

* * *

 **Mylah**

"Hey kid, someone's here to see you."

Mylah whirled on her place, stopping her training to see who was talking to her. The voice though, was pretty familiar. That's right, it was no other than Kaith. They really hadn't seen each other for the past month, what with Thomas recovering (rumor was he almost died of internal bleeding in his head. When Mylah went to see him though, he was fine, only very sore, as his broken arm had already been repaired by Erudite tech. Everyone was a bit shaken from the incident, as from what Mylah had gathered, Kaith always kept her cool, _(Apparently the random punches and threats are her way of messing with people. I dig it.)_ and very rarely would lose it like that. Again, from what she'd understand, Thomas kept annoying and picking small fights with Kaith every single day, what eventually would blow up. _As it did_ _._

"Uh? Thanks for telling me, I guess…"

"Why, you're welcome! Want anything else? No? Okay! That's fine!" Kaith laughed ( _She_ _'s in a pretty good mood today. The girl swings between moods like a goddamn kite in a typhoon.)_ , and added, as Mylah kept her mouth shut. "Better hurry, or your visitor might blow up from waiting. Know where the secondary hall is?"

"I do not, unfortunately." Mylah shook her head, hair flying around, and then added, jokingly, "Maybe you could take me there?"

Apparently Kaith's good mood really made her _fun_ , as she simply chuckled a "Sure!", grabbed her wrist, and dragged Mylah through a couple of halls, not caring about her protests and "It was only a joke!"'s.

"Here we..Oof!" Before Kaith could finish the sentence, Mylah had broken free of her grasp, and just in time, before _someone_ almost threw herself on top of her, nearly sending the three of them flying towards the ground, and it only didn't happen because of Kaith and some inherent ability of not falling.

"Hey kids," _WE'RE THE SAME AGE! "_ careful there, don't wanna get in trouble a full three seconds of meeting each other, yah?" Kaith had already distanced herself and was getting ready to leave, before anyone else had the idea to jump on top of her too.

"Anna?! Is it really you? How did you get in here?" The sight of her best friend brought her immense happiness, along with curiosity. She shouldn't have been able to enter, afterall.

"It's a free day, silly! Have you lost the track of time?" In fact, she did. It wasn't her fault, Dauntless didn't keep clocks and calendars anywhere near the Initiation complexes "Now tell me everything! How's initiation going? Made any friends? Oh, and how's the chocolate? I've read somewhere that it is very good here!"

"You heard right! It's delicious! Come, I'll show you to our eating hall, there's bound to be some cake left. Now, tell me, been sleeping as much as before?"

Anna rolled her eyes playfully, glad to be with her old (And short!) friend. Theressa had been making her feel shorter than she was, and she wanted to be the tallest one again even if for only a while.

"Was that the girl we met some time ago? She's different."

"Uh? Oh, you mean Kaith. Nah, she's just in a good mood. Now now, no talking about boring people, I wanna hear what you've been up to! Come on, bring me up to speed on the latest erudite news!"

As they went further down the hall, heading towards that marvellous cake, the voices became more and more indistinct until not being left anything but vague echoes of laughter and animated chat.


End file.
